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Hi all,
just looking for some advice really, I took my ex to court last year as she stopped me from seeing my then 7 year old daughter after 6 months of court i now have PR and regualr contact, every other weekend, every Wednesday during term time from 5pm-7pm 2 weeks in the summer every other xmas and new year. I have recently found out (NOT from the mother) that she is planning on moving to Bournemouth (currently living in London) by the summer holidays.
As she hasn't told me I am not sure what to do and am positive my daughter has no idea either. Having done some research it is approx 120 miles from my house this means that Wednesday contact will be impossible and every other weekend will be as nearly impossible as at the moment court states I pick her up at 6pm on Friday and bring back Sunday by 4pm.
If she moves does this mean she will effectively breaks the order as I will not be able to get there every Wednesday for 2 hours?! Or should I try and take her back to court before they move? She will qualify for legal aid as she doesn't work and last sumer it cost me 4K in total...
I really am not sure what my next move should be, I didn't spend 6 months in court fighting to see my daughter for it all to be taken away less than a year later.
I know I cannot prevent the move but want to ensure I still see my daughter regualry! HELP
Hi Anom,
Welcome to DadTalk. I will ask the Coram Children's Legal Centre to pop by and offer you some advice regarding where you stand legally.
Gooner
hi anom
Do you know why she is planning to move? Does she have family there, or going for a job?
Hi, yes her soon is in a care home there he has been in care since last July when she dropped him off at social services (he is not my son he was from her previous relationship)
why did she put him in a care home? If she can't cope, then should she be taking your daughter with at all - it might be that you could consider going for custody.
Dear Anom,
Your ex partner is moving within the jurisdiction so she is able to do this, however, she would be breaching the court order if she cannot comply with the Wednesday contact.
Your ex partner may apply to the court before she moves to vary the order to what she can comply with. Alternatively, you can apply to the court for an order. You could apply for variation of the order, a residence order and/ or a prohibited steps order to try and stop her from moving.
The decision in relation to putting an order in place will be up to the judge to decide.
If you cannot afford to have a solicitor you can represent yourself. If you wish to apply to the court for any of the above orders this can be done on a C100 form which can be obtained via www.justice.gov.uk.
Once you have filled in the C100 form you need to file it at your local family proceedings or county court with a fee of approximately £200.
If you have any further questions please contact us again via our webchat facility. The link to our webchat is http://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/index.php?page=web_chat.
Yours sincerely,
Coram Children’s Legal Centre
Hi actd no I haven't social services have closed my daughters case because they say there are no issues there! I didnt want it closed but they didnt listen. It is highly unlikely the court would give me custody even though I am her father and have spoken to SS about this and a solicitor but everyone is of the same opinion as the mother has to really mess up before they take the child from them 🙁
Thanks, yes I did look online regarding jurisdiction...she has never played ball so I suspect she will move without doing this. The other issue is as I said because she doesnt work she gets legal aid and so will prolong this for as long as possible as she did last time (my daughter was 8 but then turned around in court and said i wasn't the father, so it delayed for a dna etc)
If I do it before she moves she will just say well i dont know when im moving so thats why i didnt say anything, and if i wait then i will have to go to bournemouth for court as it is where the child lives (well thats what happened last time)
But thank you anyway
if you think she will drag it out, then I would suggest either representing yourself, or at least doing a lot of the work with a solicitor supporting to keep your costs down, so your ex can't rack up ypur costs by using delaying tactics.
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